Not much sewing getting done here. I have no excuses either.

Gratitudes:
1. My Rosie puppy is feeling better. Her back has been sore.
2. My Eva is graduating from college Saturday after doing it the hard way. We are very proud of her.
3. I'll get to see my far away grandson this weekend.
4. It's almost Cinco de Mayo!

Different fabric....

I made two more burp cloths this morning after I made a trip to the doctor for my shoulder. Cortisone shot. Sure hope it helps. I am ready to start a little girl quilt and have no fabric, no ideas, and don't see a time to get it going. I have until the end of September. (Ok, so I might have some pinks and greens that I bought at Zooks on our last trip to Lancaster. One yard each of about 6 different fabrics. Hmmmmm.....)
I must brag a little about my irises. They are really beautiful. Last year was the first year they were out here, and I got 1 lousy bloom so I am thrilled with how many I am having this year. And all my vases are boxed up, ready to wait for the new house!

Jeanne on Spiral always lists things she is grateful for at the end of her post. Think I'll start doing that some of the time.

Gratitudes:

1) My beautiful irises

2) having Gracie here today to keep me laughing and busy

3) my wonderful husband who helped me book a girls' trip to Vegas this afternoon (Woohoo!)

4) the blogs that I read that give me all kinds of things to think about....like things to be thankful for!

Burp cloths

So I decided to whip up some burp cloths that I saw on Pieces from My Scrapbag. Everything was going pretty well until the 3rd one. I have no clue what I did wrong, but it's a little shorter. Guess it will still work, though! It felt good to have a project to do quickly and easily. Thanks, Finn.

Chicken or the egg...

Am I down in the dumps because I don't feel like sewing, or am I not sewing because I'm depressed? Either way, I'm not feeling so hot these days. I am hoping to get the energy to go sew on some flannel and make some burp rags that I read about on someone's blog. (Angie? Pieces from My Scrapbag?) Sorry I don't remember who for sure.

This is finish #2. It's my first attempt at a scrap quilt and it is really scrap. I just picked any fabric I felt like without thinking of how the blocks would go together. I think the blue corners saved it. It's the one with the really weird border/binding, so it's good you can't see the borders. (My husband said he was smiling when I took the picture.)
This is my most recent scrap quilt. Everything was out of my stash, most from other quilts. The colors are gold, rose, and green. I had to buy the border cause I just didn't have anything that would work. I finished hand- stitching the binding this afternoon. I think this started out as a Frenzy from the One Day Quilt Frenzy group.
So I have three quilts finished in the last 3 weeks or so. Now I need to figure out the design for the new grandbaby if it's a girl.

Issues

I have been busy finishing up 3 different quilts that were ready for the binding. All three quilts have had problems, and I'm discouraged. All problems were with my long-arm quilter.

Quilt #1
I used their backing because I'd made the quilt a little bigger than I first intended. They pieced it, and there is a line of selvedge that goes down one side. It's not even, and since it was in the side, I covered most of it with the binding and the border is just a tad uneven on one side. This didn't bother me all that much.

Quilt #2
This is the one that is scrap sampler. Every block was quilted differently, and I really liked that idea. However, in doing that, somehow the quilt was bunched in places, especially on one side. I didn't really think it was a problem until I tried to sew the binding on. It was really rough, and one side of the border is pulled or pinched looking. I'm really disappointed in this one. I pinned the binding and tried 3 different times to make it flatter until I just gave up. It's only on one side, and I've never had this problem in any of my quilts.

Quilt #3
I am still hand stitching the binding on this one. When I was sewing on the binding, the back didn't reach the edge of the quilt on part of one side. This is the 2nd time this has happened. Fortunately, I could move the binding in a little and got the binding on without it being too noticeable. Another problem was that that quilt pattern on the front was messed up in one place. It was a simple pattern, the shell, and it shows. One row was quilted and then there is another row right under it. Of course, in the scheme of things it won't be noticed.

Am I expecting too much? Am I too picky? I realize that nobody cares except me. And better finished than perfect.

I'm still here!

Sorry it has been so long between posts. We have been busy here getting ready for Easter, and we're still working on packing up our house in town. Hope you are having a nice Easter weekend and not freezing like it is here in the hills of Tennessee. (My poor irises!)

I have been doing pretty dull quilting things. First, I am hand sewing on another binding. It's almost done. I'll take a picture when I'm finished. I had bought some backing for the sailboat quilt, and I didn't like it. So I searched for some more that I could stand. I had to hit a couple of places, but I have the same border fabric for the back. I've also decided on the fabric for the binding on a third quilt that is waiting. That quilt is totally scraps and stash, except for the border.

I guess it's time for the confession. I've had a horrible time doing the binding on this quilt. First, it wasn't quilted to the edge like a lot of my quilts are, and I had trouble getting the binding on without little tucks. The quilting had some extra puffy places (you know what I mean?) where the quilt had not been totally pulled flat or something, and that really caused a problem.

As I have done my hand sewing, I have been mumbling, "Better finished than perfect. Better finished than perfect. Better......"

A finish!

I finished hand stitching the binding on my fall quilt last night. Here comes the confession part; I had some fabric for the backing, but I accidentally made this quilt too long (I was on a roll) so I ended up not having enough fabric. I ended up using some of the fabric I bought for the backing for the binding. The machine quilter and I decided to go with muslin for the backing and let the quilting in a dark color be the design. It's quilted in a reddish brown. It's the only one I have done this way.

I have the binding ready for another quilt and will sew it on soon. It's for a scrap sampler I made from Quiltaholics.

Picture on a Saturday morning

I finally got around to taking a picture of the finished sailboat top. And had to post this one to prove to all you cat people that dogs love quilts, too. This is my Rosie.

I am going to get my act together shortly to go into Hancock's. Drove by yesterday to see the big sign that said "STORE CLOSING". Darn.

Monday

Boy, I needed today to rest! We have finally started in earnest to pack our house in town so we can sell it. We worked for 4 days and I'm beat. It was good to have a day to rest and sew. And play with Grace.

I finished the sailboat top today. If my new grandbaby is a boy, he's all set! Guess I will have to wait until September or October to know if it's a boy or girl. I am looking at patterns to start a quilt for a girl. I decided to do two this time. The other quilt I made ended up a little 'girly' for a boy. Not this time! We got fish and boats.

(And why do I have the only kids who don't want to know what sex the baby is??!?! How easy they could make this!)

I found a quilt today with Teddy Bears. I'm thinking. Anyone have a special pattern you use for a baby quilt?

I was a baaaaad quilter!

Wait! I'm not on a no buy program. I'm free to spend money...and I did! *G*

Mary Jo's is just amazing. I really have to focus or I could just wander around for hours.
I bought a cool backing for the sailboat quilt. I got a new brown that isn't a directional print for boats.

And then I bought some pretty Thimbleberry fabric I just liked. It's stash. But surely I got enough for a quilt!

4 yards background, 4 yards dark (I really liked this one), 2 yards of med dark, 2 yards med, and 1 yard of another sorta' light medium. I was thinking maybe I could just find some blocks and do a sampler. Surely I can get a pretty quilt out of it. Or I might do the Quiltaholics mystery quilt next weekend. That's a thought.........

I'm so sorry that I am so bad about updating this blog. It seems as though I am busy all the time and accomplish nothing. I am trying to read some of your quilting blogs, but haven't commented. Bloglines is good on letting you know when people update, but it's a lot of trouble to comment from there.

I have done some sewing. I have finished all the sails for the sailboat quilt and now I'm working on the boats. I have 40 HSTs to sew and square up to finish the boats. (Well, 36 but who's counting?) Then I need to shop for some fabric for the backing. I think I know what I want. Just need to have time to get there and pick it up.

I am so ready for sunshine and warm weather. C'mon spring!

Is there anything more tedious than squaring up a bunch of half square triangles? Ugh. I only have about 70 more to go.

Quick check in

I spent the week visiting my daughter in Charlotte. Here is her precious little one. We had a busy week going to story time, the mall, drawing with sidewalk chalk, and playing choo choo. And she lives in Charlotte and I didn't go to Mary Jo's. I won't brag too much, though, cause I meant to go on the way home. I just ran out of time. Must sew.

One down....

...and a bazillion to go! I finished this table runner this morning. I had left over blocks and put this together really just to practice machine quilting. I intended to try free motion, but ended up just outlining shapes. I finished hand sewing the binding this morning.

The main reason I ended up sewing was Gracie, my granddaughter. She naps in the sewing loft, and when I go up to get her, she commands me to sew. This was the top project in a pile, and I got it done in just a couple of short sessions. I also spent some time picking out sail fabric for another boat baby quilt. I like to use all the cute children's prints I can find, so I've been going through the I Spy fabric.

In honor of Valentines Day, I'll share a quilt I made a few years ago. It was a One Day Quilt Frenzy Yahoo group weekend frenzy called Mended Hearts.

And now I'm off for Valentine lunch on this cold, windy day. Hope you are having a happy Valentine's Day and you are warm and cozy.

Quilting news

Well, remember how repairing two blocks a day was working for me? Not so much now. Sigh. I have decided, however, to start another baby boy boat quilt. I always try to have a baby quilt or two stashed just in case, but I'm flat out right now. I bought some more 'wavey' blue for the background yesterday at Hobby Lobby. (Sale!)

So I also need to figure out another baby quilt to do, maybe a girl. Maybe gender neutral. Gotta' be prepared!

Snow

I'll start this post by showing the snow we got last night...that is already gone. And this was enough to let out schools for miles around. We Southerners are such wimps.

On the quilting front, redoing the two blocks a day is working. It is making me want to do other things, though. Oh, no, it wouldn't be that I want to continue repairs or finish up some UFOs. Oh no. I want to start something new. I am going to try to force myself to focus on redoing the wedding quilt blocks.

I am trying, pretty unsuccessfully, to ignore the Super Bowl 5 hours Mystery.

Update

Things here continue to improve with my husband. We got good news from the pathologist and are very pleased with that.

I still don't have much quilting energy, but have a plan. I am still redoing the quilt from my daughter's wedding. I sure wish I'd had a decent machine when I made this the first time, as almost every seam will be resewn by the time it gets finished. (And it's a lot of seams!) Anyway, to get myself started, I go up to the loft and must redo two blocks before I quit. It's worked for the last several days, so maybe it will get me moving.

I'm also waiting for the fabric requirements for the new BOM. I'm trying to decide whether to do it in black with brights or in something more traditional. Maybe I should just do two...... Sounds good to me!

Back in the saddle

Well, my husband's surgery is over, and we are on the way back to normal, but not there yet.

I have decided the way to get back in the swing of sewing is to start a new quilt. Stop laughing. I'm going to the Planet Patchwork block of the month. I did one of their BOMs before (Galactic Twinkle), and I love it. I love it so much that I haven't gotten it quilted yet cause I'm not sure my long arm quilter could make it look like I want it to.

Anyway, the quilt choices are here. Number 4 won, and its name is Celestial Migraine. If you've checked it out, you see why. I love that these quilts are so dramatic, and get me out of my earth tone rut.

Want to do it, too? C'mon...you know you wanna'! It starts Feb 1.

Can't. Get. Started.

I don't know when I turned into such a procrastinator. I think about what I want to do, but can't seem to get moving. (not just quilting, either!) I read blogs, my Yahoo groups, and books, but just don't have the energy to sew. When I can't get to the machine, there are lots of things I'd love to do. But when I have the time, I just don't do it.

I need a jump start. Any ideas?